Heel-trimming machine



Aug- 13, l929- N. H. KNowLToN 1,724,205

HEEL TRIMMING MACHINE Filed June 8. 1927 Figi; Fgt. /0 700 4@ Patented Aug. 13, 1929.

narran stares NRW'OOD H. KNOVVLTON, GF ROCKFORT,

MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNGR TO UNITED 0F NEW JERSEY.

Appli-cation filed June 8, 15.227.

his invention relates to lnel-trinnniiuiv machines and here .n illustrated as ein.- bodied in a machine tor trimming;u the topliift ot a heel ilush with a heel body that has previously had the final shape imparted to it lt is to be understood, however, that in certain aspects the invention is in nitcd to the particular operation herein iter described nor to the particular details of construction illustrated.

In the maimitaeture oif wood heels, t Y common practice to apply a cover oit' thin sheet material to the body oi" a heel tl'iereai'ter attach an over-size toplitt. lt then becomes necesi to trim the perimeter ot the toplit't flush, or approximately flush, with the body ot the covered heel. lin most cases this trimming; operation is performed before the heel is attached to a shoe, by holding the heel with one hand While the cutter ot a trinnningjr machine operates on the toplitt, since the shape and proportions of an unattached heel are such that it is not convenient or feasible to grasp the heel with both hands. Consequently, the power With which an operative may hold and manipulate a heel While the toplilft is being); trimmed is limited to the strengtl'i ot the fingers as contrasted to the more poweriiul hold with which an operative may grasp a snee with both hands, as when trimming an entire heel that is atliXed `to a shoe. Moreover, manufacturing conditions require much more rapid Work when only the toplift is to be trimmed than When the entire heel is to be trimmed.

ln a machine for trimming1 toplitts it necessary to maintain the tread suri'ace of the toplift in a certain plane While the heel is being` turned to cause progress of the trimming cut around the sides and back ot the toplii't, and for this purpose it is common practice to provide a tread rest against which the topliit is held. lt is also common practice to use the same tread rest to position the heel relatively to the trimining` cutter While the breast ot the toplit is beingr trimmed, although usually the profile of the heel is such that it is desirable, and in some cases actually necessary, to give the tread rest a diiierent angular position when trimming the breast. To insure a firm bearing ot the toplift against the tread rest requires some pressure, and when the Work-singinging` Serial No. 197,399.

element ot the tread rest is stationary, as heretofore, its` :trictional resistance to manipulation of the heel materially retards production and quickly fatigues the operative. ln view of the conditions above described, an object et the invention is to provide an improved tread-rest that will not oi'er appreciable resistance to rotary or other movement of a heel or toplift held against it. Accordingly, the invention provides an improved tread-rest the work-engaging element of which comprises a plurality of antiiirietion rollers, for example hardened steel balls4 Balls are preferred since they may rotate in any direction and are therefore best suited to the conditions encountered in triimning` a heel or toplitt. y

ln the illustrated construction the antitriction balls are arranged in and protrude from individual sockets formed entirely in one plate, and are sustained against the pressure of the Work and maintained in their sockets by a solid retaining plate of hardcned' steel having a tlat ball-engagingr surface. The fiat retaining` means thus engages each ball at but a single point which is diametrically opposite the Work-engaging point of the ball. This construction does not require special accuracy in registering the plates, and does not offer appreciable resistance to rotation ot the balls.

`When a device or' the character above described is used in the vicinity of a trimming cutter, it is inevitable that some dust, dirt, and chips produced by the cutter Will become lodged in the ball sockets and, if retained therein and accumulated, would appreciably resist rotation ot the balls or altogether prevent rotation and thus impair or destroy the eiiectivoness of the anti-frictional construction.

Accordingly, -another object ot the invention is to provide a ball-bearing tread-rest Yfrom the sockets of which dust and dirt will be automatically discharged. To this en d a novel feature of the invention consists in an organization in which the socket plate and the retaining' plate are spaced from each. other to provide a chamber into which the dust and dirt may escape trom the rear ends of the ball-sockets, and in. which, as illustrated, these plates are arranged in a substantially upright position so that the dust and dirt may escape from said chamber by dropping through an opening at the bottom thereof.

When leather toplifts are used 1t is the practice to attach them so that the flesh side of the leather will be at the attaching face while the grain side is at the tread face. Consequently, the trimming of a toplift 1nvolves the problem of obtaining a clean cut at the attaching surface, where the fleshy and more or less spongy character of the leather milita-tes against cutting and tends to produce fuzz which detracts from the appearance of the completed work. By reason of this difficulty in obtaining a clean cut at the flesh side of the toplift, former machines for doing this work have been provided with rotary cutters arranged to chop the toplift from the flesh side toward the grain side. In such machines the direction of travel of the cutting edges is transverse to the plane' of the toplift, and the result is not entirely satisfactory since the individual chopping cuts do not always merge one with another as they should to make the contour ofthe toplift smooth and even.

In view of the latter difficulty, the illustra-ted machine is provided with a rotary toothed cutter the cutting edges of which Will cut in thedirection of the contour of the' toplift and at the same time produce flush trimming and execute av clean cut at v the' flesh side insteadV of leaving fuzz projecting therefrom. To this end the illustrate'd cutter is provided with helical cutting edges formed and arranged tov trim a toplift flush with the body of a heel and With inclined draw cuts that tend to force the stock at the attaching face of the toplift toward the tread face thereof, thereby utilizing the' denser' and firmer stock at the tread side of the toplift as a cutting bed against which to cut the relatively spongy stock of th'e toplift flush with the body of the heel. The novel features by which' this improved result is obtained forms the sub'- ject-matter of my divisional application Serial No. 297,499 filed August 4, 1928.

` Referring tol the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a. left side elevation of a portion of a heel-trimming machine embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof;

Fig; is a vertical section on a larger scale, through the trimm-ing cutter and the tread rest, and shows a heel the top'lift of which is in process of being trimmed;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a trimming cutter embodying the improved construction hereinbefore referred to; and

Fig. 5 is a: vertical section, on a larger scale, of a fragment of the ball-bearing tread-rest.

The frame of the illustrated machine includes Aa head and a supporting column 12. Suitable bearings, one of which is indicated at 14, are formed in the head 10 for a horizontal cutter shaft 16. This shaft is provided with a pulley 18 to be driven by a belt.

The improved trimming cutter 20, which is shown best by Fig. 4, is formed with a series of cutting teeth each having a helical cutting edge 22. Notches 24- are formed in the teeth to produce a bead on the toplift adjacent to the tread surface, but these notches may be omitted if no bead is desired. Any preferred means may be used to attach the cutter to the shaft 16, the means shown in Fig. 3 being well known and commonly used to attach forepart trimming cutters to similar shafts. For this purpose the shaft 16 is provided with a conical portion 26 which supports an internally tapered split thimble or bushing 2S. A flange tl() projecting radially from the rear end of the bushing 2S forms an abutment for the hub 32 of the cutter 20 so that when the cutter is forced toward the larger cnd of the conical portion 26 by Alio attaching screw 34 and washer 36 it will carry the bushing 28 with it and thereby produce ee;- pansion of the bushing and a consequent gripping of the cutter by the bushing.

A tread-rest is arranged under the cutter 2O so that the lower edge of the latter may be used to do the trinnning. This treadrest, as shown1 comprises a base 42. two upright plates 44 and 46 of hardened steel, and a plurality of rollers, for example, steel ballsl 58. Cylindric sockets 56 extend through the entire thickness of the plate 46 to house the balls individually. A small portion of each ball protrudes from the front end of its socket to provide an antifriction bearing for the tread surface of a heel or toplift. ltetaining flanges 57 (Fig. 5) are formed at the front ends of the sockets. The thickness of the plate 46 is substantially less than the diameter of the balls, but the sockets have greater diameter than the halls to enable the latter to rotate easily and to permit dust to pass readily through the sockets.

The balls are maintained in their .sockets by the back plate 44 which has a flat imperforate ball-engaging surface to sustain the pressure of the work against the halls and to insure the desired protrusion of the balls from the front plate 46. Thus, each ball has Contact with the back plate at only a single point which is diametrically opposite its work-engaging point. Moreover, each hall is engaged by its socket at a point midway between its front and rear faces. This construction avoids wedging of the halls and enables them to rotate in any direction with the least frictional resistance.

The socket plate and the back plaie are spaced apart to provide a dust chamber 32 between them. The spaced relation is ohtaincd by flanges 48 and 50, 50 formed on the rear face of the socket plate and seated against the front face of the retaining plate. Screws 54 (Fig. 2) fasten both of these plates to the base 42. The flange 48 preferably extends all the way across the upper margins of the plates to prevent ,dust and chips from entering the top of the chamber 52. lt `is inevitable, however, that some dust from trimming will enter the sockets through the front face of the plate a6, but such dust will be dislodged by rotation of the balls and ejected into the chamber instead of accumulating in the sockets and becoming closely packed. To provide for the escape of any dust or dirt that finds entrai'ice into the chamber 52 through the sockets 56 the chamber is open at the bottom. Furthermore, the gaps 60, 60 between the spacing flange i8 and the upper ends of the spacing flanges 50 provide for the escape of dust into a pneumatic suction trunk with which trimming machines of this general character are sometimes provided. Of course, when. a pneumatic suction trunk is connected to one or both of the gaps 60 it exhausts the dust from the chamber 52 and from each of the sockets 56.

The profiles of heels of various types differ one from another in pitch or inclination as well as in other respects, and to provide for angular adjustment of the tread rest in accordance with various pitches or other requirements, the tread rest is supported by horizontal trunnions 62. These trunnions are affixed to supporting arms 611- formed on a bracket 66. An arm 68 projects from one side of the tread rest toward the rear and is provided with a segmental slot 70 through which a clamping bolt 72 projects from the brackets 66. A wing nut 74 carried by the bolt 72 is arranged to clamp the arm 68 against the bracket 66, while the slot 70 provides for angular adjustment of the tread rest about the axis of the trunnions 62.

The illustrated construction also provides for vertical adjustment of the tread rest. rJhis adjustment is obtained by adjusting the bracket 66 up or down relatively to the member 76 by which it is supported. Clamping bolts 7 8 extend through vertically extending slots formed in the bracket 66 and have screw-thread engagement with the supporting member 76. An adj ust-ing screw() abuts a lower surface of the bracket 66 to effect the desired vertical adjustment and the bolts 76 serve to fasten the bracket at various positions of adjustment.

Provision is also made for adjusting the tread rest from front to rear, that is, in lines parallel to the axis of the cutter shaft 16, F or this purpose the supporting member 76 is provided with a horizontal cylindric shank 82 which extends through a bore in the head l0 and is provided with a screw thread at its rear end and with an adjusting cate its lower edge at or near the level of the bottom of the trimming cutter. The guard 86 is secured to a stationary bracket- 92 by a clamping bolt 94C and plate Q6. .lhe guard 86 is formed with a vertical slot 98 to provide for vertical adjustment, and the inember 92 is provided with a screw lll() to effect such adjustment. This screw is forme-:l with a flange 102 that enters a notch formed in the rear face of the guard 86.

The direction of rotation of the is indicated by arrows in Figs. l, 2 and 1l, and, since the axis of rotation is hcightwise of the heel being trimmed, it will be apparent that these edges will progres-i, while in contact with the toplift, in the direction of the contour of the toplift. liter-cover, the inclination of the cutting edgesI is such as 'toy tend to force the stock at the attaching face of the toplift toward the tread face, and since the flesh side of the toplift always at the attaching` face, the fleshy substance will be forced toward the leather of greater density which is at the tread face. Consequently, the fleshy substance well as the firmer substance of the toplift will be trimmed with a clean cut progressing lengthwise of the contour of the toplift, The antifriction balls 58, being free to rotate in any direction, greatly facilitate the manijnilation of t-he work while the toplift is seated against them, whether the heel is turned incidental to trimming around the sides and back of the toplift or moved bodily from side to side incidental to trimming the breast.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. In a heel-trimming machine, a treadrest comprising a plate having a plurality of sockets extending therethrough, anti-friction members arranged in said sockets so that portions thereof protrude therefrom to provide bearings for the tread face of a heel, and means having a iiat surface arranged to engage said anti-friction members at points diametrically opposite the work-engaging points of the members to retain them in said sockets, said means being` spaced from said plate to enable dust to escape from the rear ends of said sockets.

2. In a heel-trimming machine, a treadrest comprisingl a plate having a plurality of sockets extending therethrough, rotatable steel balls arranged in said sockets so that lll) portions thereof protrude therefrom to provide bearings for the tread surface ot a heel, and a plate having a vflat surface ar anged to engage said balls at points dianietrically opposite the Work-engaging points of the balls to sustain ythe pressure of the Work against the balls, said plates being spaced to enable dust to escape from the rear ends ot said sockets.

3. In a heel-trimming` machine, a treadrest comprising a front plate having a. plurality of sockets extending' through its entire thickness, anti-friction balls rotatably arranged' in said sockets so that portions thereof protrude from said sockets to provide bearings for the tread tace of a heel, and a back plate having a tia-t iinperiiorate surface arranged to engage said balls at ypoints diametrically opposite the vWork-engaging points of the balls to maintain the latter in operative positions, said plates being spaced apart from each other to provide a chamber into which dust may escape from said sockets.

4. In a heel-trimming machine having a trimming cut-ter, a treadrest. arranged adjacent to said cutter, said tread-rest comprising'a front plate and a back plate arranged in substantially upright position in confronting` relation but spaced apart to provide a dust-chamber, said front plate having a plurality of sockets extending)r through its entire thickness, anti-friction rollers arranged in said sockets and maintained therein hy said back plate so that portions thereof protrude Yfrom the sockets to provide a hearing' tor the tread 'tace ot a heel, and means arranged to close the top ot said dust chamber.

5. In a heel-triii'nning machine, a treadi'est comprising a plate having` a iilurality oi cylindric sockets and internal flanges at naine to NORIVGOD H. KNOVLTON. 

